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Onboard Activities

HMS RESOLUTE AFTER CHRISTMAS 1852-1853

The hearty explorers fighting to keep their spirits up throughout the dark months of the winters remind me of how we are all trying to keep our spirits up through our dark Covid winter. From my new manuscript:
“Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve the men and officers resumed daily chores including working on their spring traveling gear. The carpenters rigged an electric telegraph between the ships so, even in the worst of snowstorms, they could stay in contact with each other. Midweek Nares gave his lecture about wind. On New Year’s Eve, Kellett invited the officers to his cabin for supper, where they toasted the health and happiness of their wives and sweethearts, families and friends. At midnight everyone from both ships gathered at the highest point of Dealy Island where they raised a flag and set off two rockets.

The Resolutes and Intrepids greeted New Year’s Day with a band of flutes and fifes, accordion, drum, tambourine and triangle. The warmth of the celebrations was in direct contrast to the falling temperature: the lowest reading yet ushered in the new year. On 2 January 1853 the mercury froze, and by the 4TH the thermometer stood at -48°F. McDougall cheered the men by giving his geology lecture in a humorous manner. (Anyone who’s capable of making such a dry subject funny must be quite a wag.) On 14 January the Intrepids entertained everyone again with songs and recitations, accompanied by conjuring tricks and followed with a gunroom supper. On 1 February, after much anticipation the Arctic Theatre Royal reopened with two plays: King Glumpus, performed by the officers, and Raising the Wind, performed by the men. De Bray recalled in his journal he had never been so cold as when he performed in ladies’ clothes with his feet in thin satin slippers.
The costumes of Miss Durable and Peggy in Raising the Wind were truly admirable; all the articles were manufactured onboard, from the stays of number eight canvas, and laced with marline, to the black silk mantle and hood, with its crimson silk lining vying with the rouge on their cheeks. Miss Durable was perfection’s self, barring the ankles…Peggy was also capital, as far as costume and appearance went, and could she only have remained still, would perhaps have been the better of the two; but alas! There was a certain swagger and rolling in her gait, which would have brought down roars of applause…but certainly didn’t add to the ladylike appearance of a lovely, retiring, and accomplished girl yet in her teens, particularly when backed by a hitching up of the frock with both hands, as sailors occasionally do to the waistband of their trousers.

King Glumpus by John Barrow, Jr. followed an interlude of songs and recitations. The ‘women’ in this play wore masks and extravagant dresses, complete with bustles. McDougall’s ‘…faithless spouse [De Bray] wore a bloomer costume, such as is…worn by decoy bar girls in London as an inducement to very young men to expend a certain amount of capital in a glass of beer.’ [From McDougall’s Eventful Voyage of HMS Resolute]
 
Many thought Nares’ Queen, complete with coronet, could’ve been mistaken for Boadicea. The men truly suffered for their art: even within five feet of the stove the temperature was -5° F. The ‘women’ felt it the most and drank hot whiskey punch to keep warm. Off stage their unladylike postures included extending their legs over the heating stove. After the last curtain-call the officers dined in Intrepid’s gunroom, and the men’s supped in the mess. 

After the carpenters dismantled the stage, the men returned to spring sledging preparations. The shoemakers made boots, the sailmakers robes and tents; each man made his traveling costume. The lectures resumed with McDougall’s about Arctic exploration, Nares’ lecturing on mechanics and how pulleys and levers work. Men studied various subjects alone like navigation and maths. One noble soul planned to read the whole ten volume Encyclopaedia, but gave up after the first two. Some men played games of draughts (checkers) and chess; and of course, Kellett required daily exercise. No Arctic hardship was more strongly felt than the loss of light for months. The plays, work, lecture games, exercises,…all lightened that burdensome darkness.”


30 January 2021 blog post carries on from above:
The Resolutes and Intrepids spent the rest of the dark winter attending lectures and preparing their travelling gear, while Kellett and McClintock organised the spring sledging parties. Over the course of the spring and summer they would spread across Melville Island, painstakingly searching every coastal indentation for any signs of the Franklin men, or Collinson and his Enterprises. However, the very first sledging party Kellett would send out was going to find McClure and his men on Investigator. He hoped they were still where their 1852 message had said they were. This is a passage from my manuscript which describes the finding of that message in autumn 1852:
“Most excitingly, Mecham and his men arrived at camp six days after Pim with great news. After being away twenty-two days laying out cairns, Mecham found a cylinder from McClure under a sandstone boulder. Containing a chart of his discoveries, it informed whomsoever found it the Investigators were wintering in Mercy Bay. With no updated materials Kellett correctly assumed they were still there. Resolutes and Intrepids wanted to leave immediately, but, because it was too late in the season, Kellett made the extraordinarily difficult decision to keep everyone in camp. McClure’s Investigators would have to survive till spring before receiving help from him. Kellett vowed to send the very first team to Mercy Bay in spring.”

McClure and his men were indeed still in Mercy Bay, and their plight was worsening by the hour. In tomorrow’s blog I will address McClure’s efforts to find Franklin and their desperate situation, and following that how Kellett rescues them in the spring of 1853.

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Onboard Activities

HMS RESOLUTE: WINTER 1852-1853

During the winter of 1852-1853 Captain Kellett took daily walks with his second in command Lieutenant Commander McClintock (HMS Intrepid). I note in my ms: “McClintock described his captain as a ‘very communicative and pleasant companion, in full sympathy with all of [my] ideas and plans.’” 

Since I did not blog about Resolute’s 1852-1853 theatre performances earlier, only those on Assistance, this is what I wrote about the winter activities in my manuscript, beginning in November:

“The Resolutes elected Kellett as head of their Theatrical Committee, a role he gladly took up, serving with Domville and McDougall. The Resolutes began rehearsals in preparation for their first performances after the sun disappeared. The Theatre Committee also oversaw the stage’s completion on Resolute’s main deck, the organisation of a series of lectures to be given by the officers and men, and a series of classes taught by those willing to share their knowledge and expertise to those willing to learn. McDougall gave the first talk on the history of Arctic expeditions during the 1800s, and taught eight students the principles of navigation. Kellett lectured about astronomy: outlining its history from the earliest times, including the many theories which led to astronomers’ current expertise. Domville gave two talks about chemistry, surprised that almost all of the Resolutes and Intrepids attended. He illustrated his points with simple experiments, and concluded with how thermometers and barometers work. Nares lectured about winds: how they are created, including monsoons, land and sea breezes, and the Tradewinds…

“The Resolutes and Intrepids willingly attended the lectures and classes, but their greatest enthusiasm was reserved for the eagerly anticipated theatre performances, the highlight of the season’s activities. Much hard work went into learning lines, and the imaginative creation of costumes and scenery. McDougall was Resolute’s primary set designer and painter, and in charge of creating costumes. Finding the ensembles for the female parts significantly difficult to make, even though some items had been brought from Britain for this purpose, he had to rely on his considerable ability to improvise…

“Finally, on 23 November, the great day came to raise the curtain on Resolute’s Arctic Theatre Royal, the first in that region since Parry’s 1822 performance. After a quickly devoured early supper, the actors completed their finishing touches: the ‘ladies’ shaved, and De Bray applied their makeup, which consisted of magnesium to whiten their faces, and Chinese rouge to bring some colour back onto their cheekbones. Kellett was given the best seat in the house: an armchair set against the mainmast with a canopy made from flags and Kellett’s family coat of arms. Resolute’s and Intrepid’s officers sat in the front row. 

“The evening began precisely at 18:30 with the orchestral performance, consisting of six fifes, an accordion, a drum and a triangle. Dressed as the Hyborean King, Dr. Domville read out McDougall’s prologue in a strong voice:
‘Tis now some two and thirty years ago,
This region of eternal ice and snow
Was first discovered by one Edward Parry,
Who near this spot eleven months did tarry;
Icebound as you are now, like you in hope
Next season’s summer sun the ice might ope.
Their coming here I deemed a great intrusion,
And thought to cover all with dire confusion:
Frostbites I sent, and covered them with scars;
They murmured not, but laughed, like jolly British tars.
I then forgave them, for I couldn’t feel resentment,
‘Gainst men who midst privation had contentment.
You’re welcome for their sakes, I can’t dissemble,
For you, your persevering predecessors do resemble
In everything-including killing deer and even my musk-oxen
You cooly shoot, and then with musket knock ‘em
Down: their carcasses next skin and bear off,
Whilst not a particle of meat I get a share of.
But I o’erlook it all. You see I’ve come today
To join you as of old in forwarding the play.
Well! ‘tis a splendid house, quite equals Parry’s,
And far surpasses that of Mr. Barry’s
Houses of Parliament, for you I see don’t need
The ventilating process used by Doctor Reid.
And Brothers, for such we are by common consanguinity,
Let’s live as such, in constant unanimity.
Take exercise, be cheerful, and care throw aside,
Cold, darkness, and monotony you may thus deride:
For even here that cherub sweet, with heart both kind and soft,
The life of Jack holds dear; she’s watching now-aloft!
Last spring a herald from the Tehoutschi’s king
Told me this season to my realms would bring
A ‘Resolute’ and ‘Intrepid’ band, and bid me tell it,
In order to surprise his friend, their leader-Captain Kellett.’
[A bell rang]
‘But hark – a bell! Ah! That’s a hint to close my long oration;
They’re anxious to appear, my friends, to gain your approbation;
But remember they’re beginners, for I know they’ve fondly reckoned,
On your kindness to gloss lightly o’er the faults of 
Charles the Second.‘ 

“The first of the two plays was the historical drama Charles II…A group serenaded the audience during the intermission with amusing songs, followed by the programme’s second half: the comedy, Who Speaks First…When the final curtain fell, chorus followed chorus of heartfelt cheers over the pounding of profuse clapping. Everyone stood and removed their hats for a rousing rendition of ‘God Save the Queen’, then all fell upon the refreshments that Kellett had provided. Though the temperature was 0°F, having a most powerful effect on the ‘women’ in their petticoats, nonetheless McDougall opined they would’ve been well received on any London stage.”

After the theatre was packed away and December began I continued…
“Now the men began looking forward in earnest to Christmas, which was soon upon them. By Christmas Day, in both ships, the men had decorated their mess tables with flags and festive centrepieces, and Kellett and McClintock ordered the men extra food allowances. The Intrepids hosted the luncheon for all the officers, which consisted of muskox, hare, ptarmigan and reindeer. Everyone dug in with gusto. Afterward the Resolute officers prepared the evening dinner. At 17:00 they gathered in Resolute’s gunroom for an even more elaborate feast, which included roast beef and Arctic hare. However, the twenty-one pound haunch of Arctic venison was everyone’s favourite. After dinner they played Mecham’s game called Quack. No details survive about this, but they apparently had a grand time playing it with their enjoyment, no doubt, heightened by their consumption of alcohol-based festive drinks.”

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Onboard Activities

Arctic Christmases 1850 & 1852

1850: Onboard HMS Resolute they celebrated Christmas with a call to “Let our Arctic Christmas rival its predecessors. Although nature here denies us the accustomed decorations for his reception, let us give the old Father [Christmas] a rich jolly welcome, and I’ll warrant we shall receive an ample return.” (Arctic Miscellanies, p. 145)

The Illustrated Arctic News December 1850 Christmas Day


In the Arctic Illustrated News that same year McDougall wrote:
“Christmas Day in Latitude 74° North…has the merit of being a novelty, although we must plead guilty to being like most other people sufficiently old fashioned, to prefer spending it at Home…we ‘Mariners of England’ shall have to do fun 1850 as we have done before, namely spend a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year amongst those jolly mortals called Shipmates…It is true no gentle hand rests on ours, no laughing child clambers on our knee…We… rejoice in the unfaded beauty of her who never spoke a word unkind…Such can only be found in that one bright spot – an Englishman’s Home! Yet our chair will be there, and our name will not be forgotten. God be thanked we have each our consolation. We rejoice in the hope that they are happy, they gladden with the thought that we are doing our duty.

“And so we will, gallant Friends! Thanks to Her Majesty’s Roast Beef and plum pudding – our Christmas in spite of Emperor Zero must be a jovial one, and we can best insure a happy entrance to the coming Year, by drawing still closer the bonds of friendship which unite us to our Brother Arctic Navigators.”

1852: When the Belcher Expedition was divided at Beechey Island during the autumn Belcher took his flagship, HMS Assistance, and steam tender, Pioneer, up the Wellington Channel. Kellett sailed westward with HMS Resolute and steam tender Intrepid. Although similar, the Christmas celebrations unfolded a bit differently in each camp. Onboard HMS Assistance and Pioneer the men marked the Winter Solstice with the opening of their theatre. They passed the evening of the shortest day by attending the Pioneers’ performance of Hamlet, followed by the Assistances’ ‘much admired comedy’ of The Scapegrace.

The Queen's Arctic Theatre 1852 onboard HMS Assistance, under the patronage of Captain Sir Edward Belcher. and manager Commander Richards

Onboard HMS Assistance on Christmas Day Belcher wrote about what had happened in the middle of the night: “At midnight certain sounds of music, not customary, were noticed near my cabin door, and permission to enter having been granted [there followed the recitation of] a Christmas Ode…


A Christmas Piece
Awake! Awake! The Old Year’s going,
Time flies a pace;
Awake! Awake! The New Year’s coming,
To take the old one’s place.

Arise, arise, good shipmates all,
And do not danger fear;
Arise, arise, good shipmates all,
To welcome the New Year.

God bless our brave old Commodore,
And our good Commander too;
Not forgetting all our Officers
And our true and gallant crew!

Sleep on again, and on your brows
May soft repose be seen!
Sleep on again, while in our lay
We’ll sing, God bless the Queen!”
(Last of the Arctic Voyages, by Edward Belcher, vol I p. 189-190)

Onboard HMS Intrepid on 23 December 1852 the Intrepids welcomed the men from HMS Resolute to their performance of “a series of tricks in legerdemain, interspersed with songs, recitations, etc. Captain McClintock and Lieut. Pim had, with the most praiseworthy zeal and forethought, gone to considerable expense in providing amusing tricks which were entrusted to Mr. Krabbe…

“Nothing could have gone off with greater eclat than the entertainments of the evening; the laughter and surprise were at times intense, particularly when the qualities of the “inexhaustible bottle” were, top the intense delight of the recipients of its contents, proved to be something beyond mere fiction…

“Christmas Day has at length arrived and many were the expressions of good will and friendship interchanged. The Intrepids with their usual hospitality, provided luncheon; and, after a walk for an appetite, all the officers of the squadron met at 5 pm in the gun-room of the Resolute and sat down to a substantial dinner. Besides other delicacies, there was a splendid piece of roast beef (killed in April), an Arctic hare, and a noble paunch of Arctic Venison weighing twenty-one pounds. The latter was the favourite dish, and called forth the unqualified praise of all present. The evening was spent agreeably over a new and amusing game (called ‘Quack’) introduced by Lieutenant Mecham.

“I had almost forgotten to say, the men had an extra allowance issued, and at 1 pm sat down to good fare, the various tables being decorated with transparencies, flags, and devises of various descriptions alike appropriate and tasteful.” (Eventful Voyage, p. 170)

God bless them everyone!
The RESOLUTE Blog will return on 26 December 2020

A follower on my Facebook page added this information about “Zero’s tricks”:
You asked if anyone had any inking about what the reference to “Zero’s Tricks” may be alluding to. This may, or may not, be an explanation. Card games were, as they are now, very popular with seafarers who have a lot of time on their hands at night. There are a number of old card games where, if you do not have anything to give even a hint of a winning bidding hand ( a hand like a fist some of us call it), you may go to the other extreme and bid “Zero Tricks” – which means, you know you are really up against it, but reckon you can strategically lose every hand ! That is not as easy as it sounds as, if your opponents can make you win even just once, you are ‘dog tucker’ and incur a massive penalty deduction in points. Mind you, if you miraculously succeeded in losing every single play, your points reward is greater than going “full no trumps” 

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Onboard Activities

“THE ARCTIC ANTHEM”

WRITTEN BY GEORGE FREDERICK McDOUGALL

In the Illustrated Arctic News, produced onboard HMS Resolute during our galant ship’s very first Arctic winter, of 1850-1851, the Editors George McDougall and Sherard Osborn published McDougall’s Arctic Anthem. You can sing it in your head, or actually out loud, to the tune of the British National Anthem “God Save the Queen”. Americans can sing it to the melody of “My Country Tis of Thee” which is the same. (I quote the first verse in the front of my non-fiction manuscript which I am still sending around to agents!) I have made bold the words that might need definition, with their explanations below. Here are all the verses:

God bless the Resolute,
A ship of good repute,
And all her crew!
Make her victorious,
Over old Boreas,
Whene’er he’s uproarious,
Our consorts too.

Of Button’s Balloons, a store,
We have sent on a tour’
Franklin to cheer!
From toil, we’ll not refrain,
To release his crew from pain,
And return with them again
To friends sincere.

Let this our winter be,
From every care, quite free,
Health to us all!
Don’t let old Zero’s tricks,
perplex the brave Arctics,
Nor let for want of sticks,
Sylvester* fall.

Let us return once more,
To England’s happy shore,
Never to roam!
May we ne’er want for prog,
Or what is better – Grog,
To keep all our lives agog,
Till we reach home.

EXPLANATIONS:
Boreas is the Greek God of the North Wind and Winter
consorts: Austin’s 3 other ships 1850-1851 Intrepid, Assistance & Pioneer.

George McDougall, Master on HMS Resolute 1852-1854, wrote the Arctic Anthem about Resolute

Button’s Balloons: The Austin Expedition released many balloons to which were attached, according to McDougall, thousands of slips containing the expedition’s whereabouts. On 12 September 1852 Kellett dispatched a balloon “with 800 papers attached to a tail of quick-match. The balloon disappeared in a north-westerly direction.” (McDougall’s Eventful Voyage of HMS Resolute, p. 127) McDougall noted that he was unaware of any of the “many thousand slips” scattered in every direction were ever picked up.
Zero’s tricks: I’m not sure what McDougall meant. Any ideas anyone?
Sylvester*: This word has an asterisk next to it the Illustrated Arctic News with this explanation: “The name of the inventor of the warm air stove”. The Admiralty equipped all their Arctic search vessels with this device.
prog: short for “progress” made to rhyme with Grog
Grog: defined in Admiral Smyth’s The Sailor’s Word Book (edited by our story’s Edward Belcher) “a drink issued in the navy, consisting of 1 part of spirits diluted with 3 of water…as the water onboard in olden times was very unwholesome it was necessary to mix it with spirits…”

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Onboard Activities

ARCTIC RIDDLE & SAYING

From the Illustrated Arctic News (October 1850 edition) come the following saying and riddle. The 1850 Austin Expedition consisted of 4 of the 5 ships sent under Edward Belcher two years later in 1852: Assistance, Resolute, Intrepid and Pioneer. The only ship missing was North Star. She was added as a depot ship for Belcher’s men, which the Admiralty ordered him to keep on Beechey Island so she could be utilised as a rendezvous point in addition to being a place for additional supplies to be landed.
Its important to know these four ships’ names to understand this saying McDougall placed in the October 1850 news letter:


A good Pioneer must be a Resolute man.
Few men, however Intrepid, but have felt the want of Assistance.

This following query speaks for itself:
Q: Why should we in our present position be considered very knowing?
A: Because there is nothing green about us!

As I noted a couple of days ago, the explorers searching for the lost Franklin men used a variety of occupations to get themselves through the long Arctic winters. After setting up their winter camps almost all of them participated in theatre performances in one way or another. Some worked on the scenery and costumes, others diligently practiced their lines. In 1852 the Resolutes appointed Captain Henry Kellett to be the head of their theatre committee, and McDougall wrote about the theatre preparations in The Eventful Voyage of HMS Resolute:

“All has been hurry and bustle for the last fortnight, in preparing scenes, decorations, dresses, etc for the theatre. In addition to being a committee man, I was obliged to take on myself the responsible offices of scene painter and dressmaker; the former was sufficiently difficult in consequence of the want of proper materials; to remedy which we were obliged to have recourse to soot, blacking, chalk, etc.

“The dress-making business was, indeed, extremely puzzling, particularly in the ladies’ department; but success attended our enterprising efforts, and although much criticised, elicited warm expressions of admiration.” p.158-159

When the Resolutes opened their theatre in the winter of 1852, the Theatre Royal, Melville Island had not taken place since 1820, when Captain Parry opened it! Now in 1852, Captain Kellett provided the after play refreshments, then McDougall commented further:

“Amateur theatricals are seldom subjected to severe criticism…but here, where the dreary darkness of an Arctic winter affects the mind and body in no small measure, where the the temperature is at zero on the stage (no joke in petticoats), besides having to depend on our own resources, where is the man who could look on such performances with too critical an eye?” p. 162

Once their play was over, and they had toasted good health to one and all with Kellett’s spirits (of one kind or another!) they dismantled the stage and began their preparations for Christmas. In tomorrow’s blog I will detail some of those Christmas preparations as they unfolded onboard HMS Resolute in 1852.

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Onboard Activities

WINTER SOLSTICE

Onboard HMS Resolute during the Belcher Expedition in 1852 George F. McDougall wrote about the hardest aspects of wintering in the Arctic. He put his pen to paper to write about his feeling on this day, the Winter Solstice, 21 December of 1852. I think we can all agree with at least some of what he expressed:

“The advent of the shortest day (the 21st) was welcomed with feelings of pleasure by all on board, for it was the turning point of the winter, when, although the temperature might reasonably be expected to increase in severity, the light, -that great and blessed gift of the Almighty- would gradually increase to a continued day of several months’ duration.
Indeed, of all the discomfort attendant on wintering within the Arctic Circle, none perhaps is so much felt as the absence of light, which changes the aspect of nature, by throwing a veil of gloom alike o’er hill and dale, and affects in a slight degree the human body, it is also injurious to the mind; the temper becomes irritable, the mental energies impaired, and the habits of some gloomy and solitary. But the sweet and soothing influence of memory, assisted by bright hopes for the future, tend to sustain the spirits, under the chilling influence of a position at once novel and unnatural, amidst eternal ice and snow…

p. 168 The Eventful Voyage of HMS Resolute.
Illustrated Arctic News, October 1850. Although this image wasn’t created to commemorate the dreams the sailor’s night watchman would be interrupting during December, it reminds me of Clement Clarke Moore’s poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’, when the children are all tucked into their beds, and dreaming of sugar plums!

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

A Christmas Carol poem
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Onboard Activities

Finally the RESOLUTE BLOG begins!

In 1855 HMS Resolute had the best Christmas Eve any ship has ever had! Throughout her life December was a busy month for Resolute anyway. Between 1850, when she joined the Royal Navy, and 1855 she hosted some great evenings full of entertainments and learning. Sometimes she hosted lectures and other times seasonal theatre performances. McDougall & Osborn’s 1850 “The Illustrated Arctic News” included this image of her most recent performance. Everyone seems to be enjoying the festive event!

God Bless Them Everyone!

Theatre performance on HMS RESOLUTE 1850

SPEAKING OF CHRISTMAS: This is such a busy time of the year! One would think in these days of Covid we would have fewer things to do to prepare for feast days. But this hasn’t been the case in my house. Here is a suggestion for a Christmas present, just in case you have a history or maritime buff in your family who won’t mind waiting a few extra days to receive the perfect gift! My 2007 novel is available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. IF, however, you prefer a Kindle version you will have to wait a bit longer. I am currently negotiating with the publisher for a Kindle version to become available in 2021.

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“From the Canadian Arctic to the President’s Desk HMS Resolute & How She prevented a War” is set against a Christmas quilt by Deborah Connor